Each person in the U.S. generates about twice the amount of CO2 as a person living in one of the other industrialized nations. The U.S. and these nations are called the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Each U.S. citizen generates close to 5 times the CO2 emissions of people living in the Rest of the World (ROW), the vast majority of the world’s population (see map). On a worldwide basis we must reduce the amount of CO2 generated to maintain a sustainable planet. Simple fairness requires that the U.S. cut more than other nations.

Housing

Transportation

Food

U.S. homes generate 27% of the nation’s CO2 emissions. This includes both the embodied energy to construct the buildings and the operating energy (heating, cooling, water heating, etc.) to operate the buildings. Our homes are too large, poorly insulated, and include too many energy-using machines. Today we know how to build homes that use 80% less energy. And we now know how to get similar reductions when retrofitting existing homes. More

Cars generate 24% of U.S. CO2 emissions. Pluggable hybrids (PHEVs) and battery electric cars (BEVs) replace gasoline made from oil with electricity obtained from power plants that burn coal and natural gas. Electric transportation will reduce CO2 emissions by only about 15% – far too little and much too late to save the atmosphere. But if we shared rides, automobile CO2 emissions could be cut by 80% within a decade. More

Food production generates 18% of U.S. CO2. The fastest way to reduce food related emissions is to change our diets, by reducing the amount of energy intensive foods consumed – including factory meat and dairy products. We must also reduce the amount of manufactured foods we eat that are based on grains and soybean oils. A fundamental change in the way we grow, process, transport and store our food is needed. More